An “Appeal to Congress” from five former secretaries of defense warns that Donald Trump is firing flag officers, which is unprecedented and an assault on American political norms.
And Zelenskyy constantly interrupted them (which is enormously disrespectful). I’m having the exact same problem with a contractor right now…I wonder if Trump and Vance would make a house call. 😉
I don´t believe that Ukraine actually gave up all their tactical nuclear weapons. That´s why the Russians did all those airborne deep penetrations initially.
Given that they were never Ukraine’s weapons and were never under Ukrainian operational control - ie they didn’t have the codes - I doubt it was a major concern.
Yes, but what if they did a bait-and-switch operation? They handed over warheads that were actually stuffed with radioactive cabbage, in order to fool the Russian inspectors. Then the real warheads were hidden away in a deep salt mine somewhere near the Romanian border. This a plausible scenario and should not be scoffed at. We need to stop scoffing and take WW III seriously, or there ain`t gonna be a WW IV.
What they are actually doing is making it so good junior officers will not be able to be promoted. Every one at the top which is removed from the payroll opens up something to the tune of 6-10 O1 grade officers was told once. Our military has been top heavy for at least 40 years. There is no reason when we are not at war to retain anyone past their 20 years. Especially our illustrious Perfumed Princes as David Hackworth used to call them. There's also been no one to fill his slot at Soldiers For The Truth since his passing. If it wasn't for Hack, our boys would never have gotten the ballistic gear they are issued now. Even though it's still not as good as it's direct competitor, what the military would have issued would have been worse than the Kevlar flak tests issued up until this latest venture in the middle east we started 24 years ago.
The Royal Navy has two admirals for every one ship. You can either see it as a stupid waste, or as a redundancy measure against any attempt to "decapitate" the leadership. It took me three attempts to spell "redundancy" correctly. Well, four.
I always read this when I come across someone who tries to espoused what you posted. I know that you don't mean that yourself but are talking about the radialcals. They deserve to be reminded of these wise words.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." The tyrants this time are those who are trying to stop the president from doing his job.
Perhaps if generals don't want to be fired by the politician to whom they report, they should both demonstrate competence, *and* refrain from injecting themselves into politics by making very public political comments.
(Or, more out of sight, by achieving their advancement through their commitment to enforcing politically correct theories that fail to advance military preparedness and capability).
I can’t remember the last time I saw a general - Mattis included - who really impressed me as being anything but a preening corporate douche with just a little more of a tough guy rattle in their voice. Stuff like this makes me embarrassed for the profession.
I worked for a general who was a leader, and a model of integrity, the Chief of Infantry when I was at Fort Benning. But that was a looooong time ago. He was one of those general officers who would stop on the street to bullshit with an E-2, totally comfortable at all times with all soldiers.
That starts midway through being a captain. If you make Major it's ticket punching all the way up until the 4th inner ring then it's nepotism as they proceed through to 4 stars.
I hear what you’re saying and I don’t know who you’re talking about, but I’ve always been less impressed with the “one of the guys” touch than other people seem to be. I always thought it a little condescending really. Again, maybe you had a good egg there.
There's a balancing act in which a good officer is comfortable with soldiers but not pretending to be a friend or "one of the guys." Closeness without familiarity. Hard to do.
I’m speaking more of the affected persona than the relationship. Maybe these guys are good neighbors and unselfish in the bedroom to boot, but it doesn’t matter. Guys like Petraeus, McChrystal, and Mattis did a lot to mold the office in their own image: superficially charming but empty.
I agree wholeheartedly. Not only do I learn a great deal from Chris, but my knowledge is greatly expanded in reading the comments section after each article.
The thing about this species of magazine article is that the authors, Ricks included, never named names. There was always complaining about the generals collectively, but no individual was ever singled out as deserving the sack. So nothing ever happened. Almost as if they designed it that way.
"If it’s an illegitimate act for President Donald Trump to fire senior military officers, then it’s illegitimate for presidents to fire senior military officers — all presidents." But no, I don't think any of these people would accept this premise. It's that ANY act by Donald Trump is illegitimate. He could fire a general, defund an agency, turn on the coffee machine - he, the man himself, is a constitutional crisis. It's not his acts, it's his being that's at stake.
Probably a secondary skill he learned at McDonalds. Oh I know maybe he should show up at Starbucks and teach those folks how to make a decent cup of coffee that doesn't taste like acrid bilge water.
I recently had a dinner with a neighbor who's also a liberal. We normally avoid talking politics because we have decidedly different political viewpoints. On this particular occasion he broke protocol by mentioning that Trump had no right to fire these generals just because they disagreed with him.
I reminded him that The Constitution does grant him that right as President and Commander in Chief. I further reminded him that back in November of last year that we held an election. The Democrats and Republicans both put up their best and brightest for a vote and We The People made our choice. Trump won by an electoral landslide as well as by a firm majority.
I fault the Fake Media for feeding misinformation to those ignorant of how the government functions. I also love to watch their butt hurt reactions when they are reminded that they really didn't have a choice over which of their morons to vote for.
So if a general is immune from demotion or removal for opposing the commander in chief, a colonel should likewise be immune from removal for opposing the general, and a major immune from removal for opposing the colonel. And so on. That'll be interesting when an actual war breaks out.
It's amazing how the left and their Id10-T cards still fail to understand that one the Commander in Chief does exactly have this legal right. Two, no generals do not have the right to be insubordinate to the CIC if not given an unlawful order. By them openly doing so they individually albeit collectively overturned the chain of command which does nothing but create distention in the ranks. The generals had to go for that reason alone. Otherwise,as you said, who's going to follow whom when facing machine gun fire? The man with integrity or the bitch ass fat fuck who publicly whines that he doesn't like his superior? Yeah I see a lot of generals getting shot in the head as they try to lead from the rear as the komissars did in Russia fighting the Germas. Charge or we machine gun you. Something tells me the new Gen Z infantry are going to have to have strong men leading them who have earned their respect. What we have now aren't worth the ink their commissions were printed with.
Obama fired Mike Flynn because he didn't agree with the General. I'm sure the General didn't suffer fools like Obama. Not being satisfied with merely firing him Obama then set him up with his FBI buddy, Jim Comey, to pursue phony felony charges against him basically because he had the audacity to accept the position of National Security advisor for President Trump. The contempt from Obama and his cronies for true military leadership was reprehensible.
Obama was just the tail end of the Democrat destruction of our military. It started like gangbusters when I was in my last two years 95-97. For some reason up on high decided that E4-6 were not to be spoken to by E1-3 , or E7 on up. We had senior staff coming g down and bypassing g the NCOs leaving an information gap. I do know that my reenlistment year 97 there was 6200 Marine E5s in the infantry alone telling the Corps deuces, I'm out.
"The investigation ran 17 months and ended with a decision by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He was not found as being derelict in his duties or for improper performance, but for keeping poor official records of his travel expenses, for unnecessarily extending official trips for personal reasons, and allowing his wife to travel on military aircraft without sufficient justification. Ward was then confirmed by the Senate for formal retirement with the grade of lieutenant general in November 2012, which was determined to be the last grade in which he had satisfactorily served."
“How and why did we lose the longstanding practice of relieving generals for failure? Why has accountability declined? And is it connected to the decline in the operational competence of American generals?”
Empire rots from the head down. Corruption in an institution can be seen as bacteria in a petri dish. It starts out small as institutions are healthy in the beginning. Over time it multiplies and divides and splits and then does it all over again. And again and again. Before long you have a pitri dish filled with bacteria or in our case, a government of pure corruption.
ISTM that the Blob’s main argument contra Trump 2.0 is, “How DARE you demand accountability to the Executive, and try to exercise your authority under Article II!” Way too many people in and out of government are comfortable with an unelected, unaccountable fourth branch, so long as it means grift for them.
Love this sentence: "Removing the top uniformed lawyers simultaneously and without justification presages an intent to act in ways that truly independent lawyers might advise against." So Trump's actions "presage an intent." That's what's known as mind-reading, or speculation — i.e., nothing factual. Then there's not just "independent lawyers," but "TRULY independent lawyers," because what is independence if it's not amplified by a useless adverb? Finally, what Trump is doing is something those "truly" independent (though unnamed, and perhaps non-existent) lawyers "MIGHT advise against" — or might not. Or would. Or would not. JESUS CRISIS!
All those generals need to go. They let the morale and fighting capabilities of the troops decay. The crop of Colonels and Navy equivalents who gutted it out under the last administration MAY be fit for promotion. We are almost all former military in my family, including me. My dad said there was almost a military coup in the US during the Nixon administration and those coups are fomented by the Colonels, not the Generals.
The high-minded quote of Washington in that letter is just mind boggling. The letter itself notes he was warning against inserting the military qua military into politics (what else is this letter?!?) not vice versa.
The quote from Washington to Hamilton was Washington warning against participation in the Newburgh Conspiracy, a threat by army officers to overthrow the new government. So it's a piece of innuendo that suggests Trump is plotting against the country.
These complaints are proof that house cleaning is necessary. Their insubordination and sense of entitlement to permanent employment speaks for itself.
Here's the best general we have right now:
https://x.com/DeItaone/status/1895529008437367184?s=19
BOSS. you have to watch this. You will not regret it.
"Now go home and get your fucking shine box, bitch-boy"
And Zelenskyy constantly interrupted them (which is enormously disrespectful). I’m having the exact same problem with a contractor right now…I wonder if Trump and Vance would make a house call. 😉
Evidently, Z met with Sen. Chris Murphy prior to meeting with President Trump. Was told (ordered?) to reject the deal he had already agreed to. https://open.substack.com/pub/petermcculloughmd/p/zelensky-met-with-dems-before-he?r=nl3ud&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Also FAFO'd by his own countrymen 1 hour after getting kicked out the Whitehouse.
Emergency meeting to impeach him.
I don´t believe that Ukraine actually gave up all their tactical nuclear weapons. That´s why the Russians did all those airborne deep penetrations initially.
Given that they were never Ukraine’s weapons and were never under Ukrainian operational control - ie they didn’t have the codes - I doubt it was a major concern.
Yes, but what if they did a bait-and-switch operation? They handed over warheads that were actually stuffed with radioactive cabbage, in order to fool the Russian inspectors. Then the real warheads were hidden away in a deep salt mine somewhere near the Romanian border. This a plausible scenario and should not be scoffed at. We need to stop scoffing and take WW III seriously, or there ain`t gonna be a WW IV.
exactly right
What they are actually doing is making it so good junior officers will not be able to be promoted. Every one at the top which is removed from the payroll opens up something to the tune of 6-10 O1 grade officers was told once. Our military has been top heavy for at least 40 years. There is no reason when we are not at war to retain anyone past their 20 years. Especially our illustrious Perfumed Princes as David Hackworth used to call them. There's also been no one to fill his slot at Soldiers For The Truth since his passing. If it wasn't for Hack, our boys would never have gotten the ballistic gear they are issued now. Even though it's still not as good as it's direct competitor, what the military would have issued would have been worse than the Kevlar flak tests issued up until this latest venture in the middle east we started 24 years ago.
The Royal Navy has two admirals for every one ship. You can either see it as a stupid waste, or as a redundancy measure against any attempt to "decapitate" the leadership. It took me three attempts to spell "redundancy" correctly. Well, four.
alwayscurious— AMEN
Good point! This is why the cuts will be deep across the Federal agencies, too. This is not an individual problem.
The basic argument, and not only concerning generals, is that Trump must surround himself by those who are disloyal.
The argument actually goes further. It is that Trump may have won an election, but he has no right to actually govern.
I always read this when I come across someone who tries to espoused what you posted. I know that you don't mean that yourself but are talking about the radialcals. They deserve to be reminded of these wise words.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." The tyrants this time are those who are trying to stop the president from doing his job.
In order to defend democracy!
Perhaps if generals don't want to be fired by the politician to whom they report, they should both demonstrate competence, *and* refrain from injecting themselves into politics by making very public political comments.
(Or, more out of sight, by achieving their advancement through their commitment to enforcing politically correct theories that fail to advance military preparedness and capability).
I can’t remember the last time I saw a general - Mattis included - who really impressed me as being anything but a preening corporate douche with just a little more of a tough guy rattle in their voice. Stuff like this makes me embarrassed for the profession.
I worked for a general who was a leader, and a model of integrity, the Chief of Infantry when I was at Fort Benning. But that was a looooong time ago. He was one of those general officers who would stop on the street to bullshit with an E-2, totally comfortable at all times with all soldiers.
We had a Colonel in the Royal Marines who was just incredible.
The unit would have followed him to Hell if required.
His successor.......
Was made out of different stuff and just pissed off the men, ruining the cohesion of the the unit in short order.
In the US colonels don’t usually get promoted unless they are political.
That starts midway through being a captain. If you make Major it's ticket punching all the way up until the 4th inner ring then it's nepotism as they proceed through to 4 stars.
Hey man incredible article at The Federalist this morning.
Bravo. I always forget you freelance for them. Probably my favorite news source/commentary
I hear what you’re saying and I don’t know who you’re talking about, but I’ve always been less impressed with the “one of the guys” touch than other people seem to be. I always thought it a little condescending really. Again, maybe you had a good egg there.
There's a balancing act in which a good officer is comfortable with soldiers but not pretending to be a friend or "one of the guys." Closeness without familiarity. Hard to do.
I’m speaking more of the affected persona than the relationship. Maybe these guys are good neighbors and unselfish in the bedroom to boot, but it doesn’t matter. Guys like Petraeus, McChrystal, and Mattis did a lot to mold the office in their own image: superficially charming but empty.
You mean Milley, Kelly,Mattis,Austin,Esper, Keane,Rumsfeld, McMaster,dont knock your socks off?
Stormin’ Norman.
🙌 Amen!
General Kulak was the last one I remember being truly honorable
It wasn't that long ago that even the stenographers of the swamp - The Atlantic - were noting that GOs needed to be canned... https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/11/general-failure/309148/
What an excellent catch this is.
That’s why I so appreciate this community. What a great group of smart, thoughtful readers with a great captain at the helm. That’s you, Chris.
I agree wholeheartedly. Not only do I learn a great deal from Chris, but my knowledge is greatly expanded in reading the comments section after each article.
great catch, but Laurene Powell Jobs didn't take ownership of The Atlantic until 2017 which is when it became pure propaganda.
The thing about this species of magazine article is that the authors, Ricks included, never named names. There was always complaining about the generals collectively, but no individual was ever singled out as deserving the sack. So nothing ever happened. Almost as if they designed it that way.
"If it’s an illegitimate act for President Donald Trump to fire senior military officers, then it’s illegitimate for presidents to fire senior military officers — all presidents." But no, I don't think any of these people would accept this premise. It's that ANY act by Donald Trump is illegitimate. He could fire a general, defund an agency, turn on the coffee machine - he, the man himself, is a constitutional crisis. It's not his acts, it's his being that's at stake.
"Oh, great, NOW HE'S MAKING COFFEE"
Probably a secondary skill he learned at McDonalds. Oh I know maybe he should show up at Starbucks and teach those folks how to make a decent cup of coffee that doesn't taste like acrid bilge water.
I recently had a dinner with a neighbor who's also a liberal. We normally avoid talking politics because we have decidedly different political viewpoints. On this particular occasion he broke protocol by mentioning that Trump had no right to fire these generals just because they disagreed with him.
I reminded him that The Constitution does grant him that right as President and Commander in Chief. I further reminded him that back in November of last year that we held an election. The Democrats and Republicans both put up their best and brightest for a vote and We The People made our choice. Trump won by an electoral landslide as well as by a firm majority.
I fault the Fake Media for feeding misinformation to those ignorant of how the government functions. I also love to watch their butt hurt reactions when they are reminded that they really didn't have a choice over which of their morons to vote for.
According to the Resistance, Trump won the election, but has no right to govern.
So if a general is immune from demotion or removal for opposing the commander in chief, a colonel should likewise be immune from removal for opposing the general, and a major immune from removal for opposing the colonel. And so on. That'll be interesting when an actual war breaks out.
Exactly right. "Why, general, are you removing me because of some concern about mere loyalty?"
Not a good idea for a popularity contest to break out when there's a war on!
It's amazing how the left and their Id10-T cards still fail to understand that one the Commander in Chief does exactly have this legal right. Two, no generals do not have the right to be insubordinate to the CIC if not given an unlawful order. By them openly doing so they individually albeit collectively overturned the chain of command which does nothing but create distention in the ranks. The generals had to go for that reason alone. Otherwise,as you said, who's going to follow whom when facing machine gun fire? The man with integrity or the bitch ass fat fuck who publicly whines that he doesn't like his superior? Yeah I see a lot of generals getting shot in the head as they try to lead from the rear as the komissars did in Russia fighting the Germas. Charge or we machine gun you. Something tells me the new Gen Z infantry are going to have to have strong men leading them who have earned their respect. What we have now aren't worth the ink their commissions were printed with.
How many flag officers did Obama fire?
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/197-military-officers-purged-by-obama/
Obama fired Mike Flynn because he didn't agree with the General. I'm sure the General didn't suffer fools like Obama. Not being satisfied with merely firing him Obama then set him up with his FBI buddy, Jim Comey, to pursue phony felony charges against him basically because he had the audacity to accept the position of National Security advisor for President Trump. The contempt from Obama and his cronies for true military leadership was reprehensible.
Well Obama was a shiny faggot.
🙌
Obama was just the tail end of the Democrat destruction of our military. It started like gangbusters when I was in my last two years 95-97. For some reason up on high decided that E4-6 were not to be spoken to by E1-3 , or E7 on up. We had senior staff coming g down and bypassing g the NCOs leaving an information gap. I do know that my reenlistment year 97 there was 6200 Marine E5s in the infantry alone telling the Corps deuces, I'm out.
THAT'S RACIST!!!!
That’s what I was thinking. But it’s okay when bama did it. Just a side thought, but did bama fire any black generals?
Yes, Kip Ward.
I'd never heard of this guy until now. What a pity. Pretty amazing resume, including a stint as a Manchu, so I gotta love the guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Ward
It sounds like he was railroaded for some reason:
"The investigation ran 17 months and ended with a decision by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He was not found as being derelict in his duties or for improper performance, but for keeping poor official records of his travel expenses, for unnecessarily extending official trips for personal reasons, and allowing his wife to travel on military aircraft without sufficient justification. Ward was then confirmed by the Senate for formal retirement with the grade of lieutenant general in November 2012, which was determined to be the last grade in which he had satisfactorily served."
If Pancetta was involved it was IC interference.
Stop it, Chris! You're making too much sense. If those kids could read, they'd be very upset.
“How and why did we lose the longstanding practice of relieving generals for failure? Why has accountability declined? And is it connected to the decline in the operational competence of American generals?”
Empire rots from the head down. Corruption in an institution can be seen as bacteria in a petri dish. It starts out small as institutions are healthy in the beginning. Over time it multiplies and divides and splits and then does it all over again. And again and again. Before long you have a pitri dish filled with bacteria or in our case, a government of pure corruption.
The sad part is about half of gen pop is corrupt.
Like the reference to “Once an Eagle.”
ISTM that the Blob’s main argument contra Trump 2.0 is, “How DARE you demand accountability to the Executive, and try to exercise your authority under Article II!” Way too many people in and out of government are comfortable with an unelected, unaccountable fourth branch, so long as it means grift for them.
This ultimately is what all the pissing and moaning is about.
All of this nonsense is just a pretext to try to impeach Trump post-midterms, should the DNC take back the House and Senate, somehow.
Is there a more political position than general?
Love this sentence: "Removing the top uniformed lawyers simultaneously and without justification presages an intent to act in ways that truly independent lawyers might advise against." So Trump's actions "presage an intent." That's what's known as mind-reading, or speculation — i.e., nothing factual. Then there's not just "independent lawyers," but "TRULY independent lawyers," because what is independence if it's not amplified by a useless adverb? Finally, what Trump is doing is something those "truly" independent (though unnamed, and perhaps non-existent) lawyers "MIGHT advise against" — or might not. Or would. Or would not. JESUS CRISIS!
All they are really saying is Trump is removing OUR lawyers, generals and admirals.
It may almost become a crime that he has appointed his own cabinet instead of just carrying Biden's forward.
Isn't that the same thing?
All those generals need to go. They let the morale and fighting capabilities of the troops decay. The crop of Colonels and Navy equivalents who gutted it out under the last administration MAY be fit for promotion. We are almost all former military in my family, including me. My dad said there was almost a military coup in the US during the Nixon administration and those coups are fomented by the Colonels, not the Generals.
The high-minded quote of Washington in that letter is just mind boggling. The letter itself notes he was warning against inserting the military qua military into politics (what else is this letter?!?) not vice versa.
The quote from Washington to Hamilton was Washington warning against participation in the Newburgh Conspiracy, a threat by army officers to overthrow the new government. So it's a piece of innuendo that suggests Trump is plotting against the country.
Hopefully , Congressional leadership will fire back quickly and forcefully.